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Loss and DisplacementName

 

Aimee Bender is a short story writer and American novelist who graduated from the distinguished creative arts program at the University of California, Irvine.  Bender has a unique use of metaphors and word play that sets her apart from other writers. The overall purpose of a writer’s work can be interpreted through the techniques that he/she apply. Their purpose may vary from being informative, fictitious or even as a form of advertising, but it is this underlying purpose that enables the readers to understand and take meaning or interpret the main context of the author’s work. In a large way, it also assists the readers to get familiar with the influences trigger the authors to make such decisions regarding the information they will bring out in their works. Additionally, the authors select wisely the details and words they use in order to achieve their purpose (Maunder 93). It thus follows that authors may never always be aware of what it is that they are doing as they start on a work of literature, and Bender herself acknowledges in an interview with the Buffalo Almanack. This paper will discuss Aimee Benders short story ‘Loser’ to identify the choices and decisions she makes in her writing in order to bring out the theme of loss and displacement. The story is about an orphan who loses his parents at a very tender age without having any control over their loss, but later turns out to be a helper for other people in finding things that they lose and misplace. It is a story of how a young man feels lonely and isolated as he is abandoned and has to deal with the horrors of the hard past of losing his parents early and even feels displaced without a family unit.

The first writing choice that Aimee Bender employs to make the readers understand that her story is about loss and displacement is the human conflicts that occur in the story between the orphan and his neighbors, which clearly depicts the society’s loss of the sense of appreciation. This is when, after the orphan’s gift of sniffing up lost items was discovered and most people in his community instead of appreciating him began accusing him of being responsible for the loss as a means of gaining unnecessary attention.  A clear example is that of Jenny Sugar whom he went to pick for a date and incidentally helped her mother find her misplaced hairbrush. Instead of Jenny appreciating his efforts, she lashed out at him and even ruined the date for them, a good indication of how the society in this story is suffering from the loss of the sense of appreciation. While at dinner, she said, “You planned all that, didn’t you? …You were trying to impress my mother. Well, you did not impress me.” This event reminded him of how lonely he was and even captures the reader’s attention to see how he has no one to go back home to for consolation or even someone to celebrate his gift. At the thought of such, the reader can appreciate the magnitude of the grief that one goes through after losing his/her loved ones. Such a skeptical reaction from someone who was to be his confidant shows how the young man was lost in his world, without a confidant who would have given him the sense of life, or even celebrate his gift. The manner in which Bender shapes Jenny Sugar in this instance shows the extent to which the people int his society have lost the sense of gratitude.

Aimee Bender also uses a lot of twists in her story using magical elements to push forward its emotional aspect of loss and displacement. But although magic does not qualify to be regarded as a natural element in our daily lives, it has helped to show the link between reality and imagination. This is through fears or phobias, fantasies and even how our expectations collide with reality (Brooks, 2011). It means, therefore that whatever Aimee Bender imagines in her story about the magical gifts of the orphan boy automatically makes up the story’s world. It has helped her to introduce us to a world that is difficult to achieve in the normal life and which would not be possible if she relied on giving out her story as a reality. This is because her story now shifts from being not only about the orphan boy with the unique ability to sense or sniff out and recover misplaced and lost objects but also about things that we cannot easily recover. These things are lost selves and people. An example is where the orphan boy, through his magical abilities, was able to sense the shirt of a kidnapped kid, Leonard Allen, and helped recover him. Bender says, “He turned off his distractions, and the blue shirt came calling from the northwest, like a distant radio station. The young man went walking and walking. And about 14 houses down, he felt the blue shirt shrieking at him.” In reality, we know that this cannot be possible, but in the story’s world, everything is made to be quite advanced to the extent that everything can easily be made clear and believable. Due to his ability, the young orphan boy was also able to understand himself and even the extent of his capabilities despite the criticism from some of his neighbors. From this quote, you can understand that he cannot find lost people, and he can only find objects.

The quote from the story shows the readers that this story is about displacement because the young man could feel the displaced objects and help recover them. Bender says of him thus: “He lay in bed that night with the trees from other places rustling, and he could feel their confusion.” The significance of this statement cannot be emphasized. Although the young man could sense and help recover the lost/displaced items, he could not help bring back the senses of these lost people. Indeed, the loss of a moral sense and appreciation has been brought out very well by Bender, as he has applied mockery to depict how a significant portion of the population viewed the young man.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Bender, A. Loser.

Brooks, L. (2011). Story engineering: Mastering the 6 core competencies of successful writing. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books.

Maunder, A. (2007). FOF Companion to the British Short Story. New York:

Infobase Pub.

 

 

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Medical and Economic importance of Bacteria

Bacteria consist of a wide range of microorganisms that show exciting differences based on their nutrition, morphology, habitat, and reproduction. Bacteria play a role in our day-to-day lives, such as assistance in digesting food. However, the majority of individuals link bacteria as disease and death-causing mediums and associate them with dirt. As a result, a question arises, ‘’should bacteria be considered friend or foe to humans?’’ In my opinion, bacteria are beneficial to our daily ways of life; for example, they assist in the nitrogen cycle in leguminous crops, applied in biotechnology in gene cloning, and used to decompose organic matter.

Firstly, bacteria help in nitrogen fixation in legumes. Document D (Nitrogen cycle) gives details about the role bacteria undertake in converting nitrogen from the air into nitrates and ammonia. These nutrients are essential in crops as they are easily absorbed by roots and transformed into nucleic acids and amino acids. The absorption of nitrogen by the rhizobium bacteria present in the roots also assists crops in growing in nitrogen-deficient soils. The nitrogen introduced into the food chain is later absorbed by human beings through digestion and ingestion as they consume food from these crops. Benefits go two both ways as crops and humans gain.

Secondly, bacteria are used in genetic-engineering procedures. Document F (Uses in Biotechnology) explains how bacteria are used in biotechnology in the gene cloning when genes are copied and expressed from giver organisms. They are used as cloning vectors in the transfer of a given specific gene into the bacterial cell plasmids using restriction enzymes. The restriction enzymes bind both vector and chromosomal DNA to the inverted palindrome, thereby dividing the DNA and producing sticky ends. DNA ligase combines both the sticky ends of both DNAs forming a recombinant DNA. Proteins produced from this recombinant technology profit most people as they are used to produce medicines, synthetic vaccines, and substances such as insulin used by individuals with diabetes. Thus, the application of bacteria in the biotechnology industry acts as a benefit to human health and the economy by reducing production costs.

Lastly, bacteria act as decomposers as they break down organic matter into carbon dioxide and other nutrients such as nitrogen. Document E (Decomposition) shows the procedures under which decomposition takes place. Fats, cellulose, and proteins are first turned into soluble compounds, then into organic acids, and lastly, forming methane, water, and carbon dioxide. The process of decomposition is essential since it releases excess nutrients into the soil, enhancing plant growth. Absence of this process, some of the nutrients taken up by plants would remain intact in leaves and other tissues resulting in insufficient nutrients in the soil. They ensure that nutrients are recycled. Also, many grounds would remain covered by wood and dead leaves forever. Thus they help in maintaining the ecosystem and ensure it is clean. Also, plants use carbon from carbon dioxide and water released from decomposition to process their food. Therefore, decomposition, as a process caused by bacteria, is of advantage to humans and plants. Bacteria have a positive impact on the lives of individuals.

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Medical And Mental Health Care           After being in solitary confinement for 112 days J.I mutilated himself by cutting his penis using a razor blade on September 5, 2019, in Broward County Jail. The prisoner had a preexisting mental illness condition from 2007 and was booked in jail in October 2017 and two months later he was put in a suicide watch after telling the staff that he suffered from both bipolar and schizophrenia disorders and that he intended to hurt himself. He was prescribed for some antidepressants and antipsychotics drugs that he often refused to take and also food, he also showed signs of mental crises before being placed in solitary where he had various public masturbatory episodes.

           In J.I case there were a few violations against him, one it is mandatory that a prisoner experiencing his mental condition is required to be assessed before and after he is from isolation, this did not happen for J.I case. In addition, during the solitary days, he was not assessed despite the red flags that his mental illness was deteriorating before his placement in solitary. While it is also stated that anyone with mental illness is not supposed to be put in solitary J.1 who had bipolar and schizophrenia was still subjected to the treatment and just as the scenario it turned out to be more harmful. 

Women in Prison

           Tammy Jackson was one unfortunate woman after she delivered in her jail cell alone, this was after she had experienced contractions from 3 am and it took hours before the correctional officers to reach a doctor who only came back the following day at 10 am. Tammy had been isolated and incarcerated without any medical care during this period of giving birth yet a few months before she was arrested she had been admitted to a psychiatric facility involuntarily. However, the saddest thing was that Jackson was not in jail because he had been convicted of any crime but as a pretrial detainee who had was being held for medical monitoring.

           They are various rights of Jackson that were neglected one is that she was denied care yet she was pregnant, the correctional officers not only delayed in informing the doctor but the doctor only came the following day finding the patient had already delivered. In addition, despite the staff being aware of the detainee’s mental condition she was still denied the psychiatry care and only received it after the was admitted to hospital. The climax of it is that she was not a convict but only a detainee when this happened which bears the question of how the convicts themselves are treated.

           From the above scenarios and the accusation, we hear every day about the experiences of prisoners in the prisons it is clear that in there the convict’s rights are not respected if not denied. Some efforts are being done like the bill that was passed that is aimed to ensure that the family connection is still intact by ensuring the convicts are held near home and that the visiting hours are increased. However, despite this being passed what matters is that the officers in the jails who are supposed to not only protect the prisoners but also address issues regard them as evil and hence treat them as punishment yet the prisons are supposed to rehabilitate criminals. There is much that needs to be done and the focus should not be on the bills but on the jails where the staff should not only be enlightened on their roles but also on the jail’s role which is to rehabilitate and not punish.

Long-term Care Public and Private Partnership Program

The policy problem involved is the general effectiveness of the partnership programs on the long-term care insurance coverage for the aging. This is in relation to the partnership policy sales over the recent years as a reflection of the long-term care insurance market overall trends (FDHC, 2014). A significant number of the partnership policies are believed to be comprehensive to cover both home and community-based care and nursing home care. The purchase in individual based rather than organization-sponsored approach. The problem on the policy issue surfaced upon the denial of close to 16 percent applications with the majority approved. This came with variations in the coverage amount purchased through partnership shareholders across four states. The partnership program was designed to encourage the purchase of private care insurance. The policies have been proven tax qualified under the federal law. It provided inflation protection for policyholders and asset protection in cases involving policyholder’s application for long-term care Medicaid assistance (FDHC, 2014).

Long-term Care Public and Private Partnership Program were established in 1987 as one of the demonstration projects financed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Four states as the major facilitators of the demonstration project, including Connecticut, California, New York and Indiana managed to develop partnership programs. The programs were designed with the aim of encouraging the purchase of the created private long-term care insurance (FDHC, 2014). This was especially advised among the individuals with moderate income. This was to enable a significant reduction in unnecessary future reliance on Medicaid to cater for long-term care services. Recent available data indicate of over 172,000 partnership policies active in the four states.

However, there are variation indications on how such partnership programs, protect the assets of policyholders. Connecticut and California programs have models designed based on a dollar-for-dollar approach. Based on such an approach, the dollar amounts of the protected assets correspond to the benefits dollar value as paid through the long-term care insurance policy. A significant example is the case that involves the purchase of a long-term care insurance policy with a value up to $150,000 as coverage would have an asset value of $150,000 coverage (Issue Brief, 2007). This is when an individual decides to exhaust the benefits of long-term care insurance and apply for the Medicaid. The program based in New York necessitates the purchase of a reliable long-term care insurance policy. This is to cover a minimum of 3 years based nursing home care and a 6 year based home and community care. The policy offers a total asset protection for entire purchaser’s assets during the Medicaid eligibility determination time (Issue Brief, 2007).

The Indiana based program utilizes a hybrid model which enables the purchasers to secure dollar-for-dollar protection. This goes up to a specific benefit level, which is defined by the state. All benefit related policies under the program above a specific threshold provides a total asset protection for the purchaser. The demographics of the program have changed significantly over the years. The average age of the partnership policyholders during the purchase time had a range of 58-63 in Indiana, Connecticut and New York with the ones in California at 60 (Issue Brief, 2007). Most of the partnership policyholders at the time were married females who were purchasing long-term care insurance for the first time. A general survey of the people who purchased the partnership policy in Connecticut and California reported of being in excellent health condition. Most of the partnership policyholder in the three states indicated of owning assets of up to $350,000 in value (Issue Brief, 2007).

When the issue was discussed in the past, a Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 was established with the inclusion of a number of fundamental reforms based on the terms of long-term care services. This was of interest to the many states willing to comply with the program which aided the lifting of the moratorium approach of the partnership programs (Issue Brief, 2007). Under the provisions of the Act, all the states are able to make vital implementations of the long-term care partnership programs based on the approved state plan amendment. This is only after meeting specific requirements. The Act expects programs to have specific outlined consumer protections, especially of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Model regulations on long-term care approach (Issue Brief, 2007). It also facilitates policy inclusion of inflation protection upon making purchases, and it applies to the people under the age of 76.

Under the policy, care is provided through managed care organizations. Through the policy, most of the active partnership policyholders have been able to access their long-term care insurance benefits. Since the establishment of the programs, the policy has aided in the receivership of long-term care insurance benefits for 251 policyholders in the four states (Issue Brief, 2007). 119 which are 19 percent of the policyholders have also been able to have access to Medicaid. The remaining 53 percent in the program has not been able to access the Medicaid. Interviews with the state officials reveal that it may be as a result of the policyholders spending down their income or having unprotected assets. Their health may have also improved, or immediate families provided the informal care. However, the policy has ensured there is cost saving to the Medicaid program through the purchasing of long-term care insurance benefits (Issue Brief, 2007).

During the purchase of the partnership policy, the average age ranges from 58 to 63 in three states including Indiana, Connecticut and New York. In California, the rate is at 60. Most of the policyholders are female in marriage institutions and purchases the long-term care insurance for the first time. In the three states, the majority of the policyholders report having assets greater than $350,000 (FDHC, 2014). Half or more of the policyholders report of having an average monthly household income more than $5,000. As a result of the aging baby boom generation and the rising cost of services, settling for long-term care has become an issue for the policy-makers. Expenditures incurred under the policy make up the largest part of the long-term care cost in the four states. The cost for nursing home care is part of a significant risk the elderly partnership policy shareholders incur. Up to 27 percent of the men participate in the program at the age of 65 years and above. Approximately 44 percent of women are also policyholders in the program.

Among the policyholders who honor the program policy provisions, 33% men and 42% women spend more time in the program than a year. Most of the households in America turn to the Medicaid program due to lack of resources. The program caters for a major percentage of the total long-term expenditures (Issue Brief, 2007). In 2005, a significant amount of money up to $122 billion was spent on the nursing homes established through the program to care for the participants. This was with an additional cost amounting to $47.5 billion on home-health care. The Medicaid accounts for the expenses in a larger share. The consumers cover 26.5% of the nursing home costs, in addition to the 43.9%, of the nursing facilities cost. The private insurance covers the other remaining 7.5 percent (Issue Brief, 2007).

Some of the options proposed to deal with the policy issues include:

Implementation through coordination with multiple stakeholders: successful implementation of the partnership program issues necessitates an input and effort from a variety of stakeholders. They include private industry, state policy makers and policyholders themselves.

State budget and target population impact: this is based on the idea that the success of the partnership program in facilitating a reduction in long-term care expenditures rely on the ability of the program to encourage Americans with moderate incomes. This is since they would otherwise opt for the Medicaid majorly for potential long-term care requirements and in purchasing private insurance.

Agent and consumer education: based on the complexity of the long-term care insurance program choices, with the additional intricacy of the partnership program, the majority of the people have strong feelings on consumer education and insurance agent training. They suggest that it should be established in new and enhanced state partnership program.

Inflation protection: this is meant to protect the elderly meet the expectations of the program in acquiring the long-term care insurance coverage

The groups that supported these solutions include state agencies such as the Agency for Health Care Administration, and the Office of Insurance Regulation and the Department of Children and Family Services (Issue Brief, 2007). They did this to ensure the program satisfy the requirements of the consumers and ascertain the policy is effective enough for policyholders to benefit adequately. Some members of the congress and consumer advocacy organizations opposed some of the solutions, especially the issue of inflation protection through insisting that implementations be made. This is to facilitate an automated compound inflation protection majorly for the people under the age of 61. When the issue is debated again, they will introduce approaches such as future-purchase protection option to back up their ideas (Issue Brief, 2007).

References

Fdhc.state.fl.us. (2014). Ahca: Florida long-term care insurance partnership program. Retrieved from: HYPERLINK “http://www.fdhc.state.fl.us/Medicaid/ltc_partnership_program/Index.shtml” http://www.fdhc.state.fl.us/Medicaid/ltc_partnership_program/Index.shtml

Issue Brief. (2007). Long-term Care Partnership Expansion: A New Opportunity for States. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Retrieved from: HYPERLINK “http://www.chcs.org/usr_doc/Long-Term_Care_Partnership_Expansion.pdf” http://www.chcs.org/usr_doc/Long-Term_Care_Partnership_Expansion.pdf

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Lottery Cheat, Corrupt People

Gambling is a business based on probability hence the participants can either loose or win. Human craving desire for acquiring more wealth in an easy and faster way has forced them to engage in gambling activities. However, people who mostly engage in these activities are those who do not have clear understanding of probabilities hence they are used by other people to meet their economic benefits. I concur with George Willis thesis that lottery cheat/corrupt people in the society. As revealed by George, the government has legalized betting in casinos and other forms of gambling in order to acquire revenue very easily. By legalizing gambling activities, the government has increased respect for them thus has attracted large number of people. It has increased public interests hence many people have switched to them as their main activities. Legalizing the activities creates new gamblers who are tempted to engage in illegal gambling. Engaging in illegal gambling activities amounts to breaking the law and the consequences are adverse. Illegal gambling offers better odds which are unacceptable in court of law. Noteworthy, American government has opted to legalize the lottery and other gambling activities on the rationale that they are victimless but a matter of moral indifference. The states authorities believe that individuals have the responsibility of making moral decisions for themselves. However, individuals engaging in legalized gambling are easily tempted to engage in illegal forms of gambling. Arguably, lottery cheats the larger population.

George argued that the government has legalized gambling in some cities in order to generate large amount of revenue. The government has legalized gambling activities in order to get revenue in a painless way. Generating income without working for it involves talking away the wealth of another person. However, this is not effective because it is severely regressive. This implies that revenue realized from taxation of these activities becomes lesser and lesser as the number of gambling activities legalized increases. This implies that the government is taking away resources from its citizens through taxation of gambling activities. The revenue generated from these activities do not have great impact ion the economy of the country. Revenues generated from gambling activities are often embezzled or mismanaged by those in higher offices. From the economic perspective, this amounts to robbing off citizen’s wealth, an issue which can be considered to constitute corruption.

In most cases, people from poor backgrounds participate in gambling activities in the pursuit of achieving the objectives of their lives. George asserted that gamblers are drawn disproportionately from the poor class as they are susceptible to the lure of gambling. People are cheated into risking the little they have in anticipation for massive wealth. This caused harm to both the participants and their dependants. By legalizing the gambling activities, the government is encouraging the public to engage in them, and they end up suffering economic loss. It is corruption because the losers from the poor financial backgrounds end up loosing their properties or monies hence leading a difficult life. Statistics revealed that between 1975 and 1977, a lot of resources were used to advertise lotteries which almost all the players are losers. The subjects are using their resources which end up into hands of other people without proper justification. Lotteries advertisement is apt among individuals who are ruined by the desire to achieve certain economic objectives without struggling. Due to economic tribulations, the lottery advertisements make some people susceptible to dreams of economic relief. In reality, this is unattainable. This encompasses undertaking risks in an attempt to achieve relief.

Lottery enables the winners to acquire unjustified wealth. Lottery blurs the difference between wealth earned in the appropriate means and the ill-gotten wealth.

Lottery reduces productivity of the participants, an issue that has negative effect on the whole society. Gambling is debased speculation and represents a lust for massive and abrupt wealth. By legitimizing the gambling activities, people are cheated into engaging in them in an attempt to acquire the massive wealth abruptly. However, the outcomes might contrast the expectation especially after losing. As such, the victims have been cheated and they end up losing their money to others. This is corruption because the winner acquires acquire wealth by taking away the wealth of another person.

People are driven by craving desire into engaging in such activities. People can acquire wealth justifiably through ennobling labor. People have to work hard in order to acquire wealth morally. Therefore, gambling based on speculation is not the moral worth in which individual acquires wealth in the society. In capitalist societies, people have acquired great deal of wealth in a speculative manner without sweating.

The government move to legitimize and institutionalizes lottery whets the public appetite hence many people will be attracted to them. This is delusion hence the participants are unlikely to achieve the relief of their tribulations as they expect. Instead, they are robbed off their little wealth. Therefore, lottery cheats and corrupts the public.

John Smith

Mrs. Jenkins

ENG 1123

18 July 2019

Bipolar Disorder is Miserable

Have you ever noticed how often mental disorders are featured in movies? Mental disorders are a common theme in horror movies. One of these commonly featured disorders is Bipolar Disorder. According to Lewis and Gutenson, “Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks” (Par. 1). Annie Wilks is a middle-aged woman who “rescues” her favorite author in a snowstorm and nurses him back to health, but then holds him captive in order for him to write a novel for her. Annie from Misery is an excellent example of a person with Bipolar Disorder, and the director, Rob Reiner, further emphasizes the disorder with his use of film techniques.

One characteristic of Bipolar Disorder is extreme mood changes. According to Smith, “Bipolar Disorder is a mental illness that causes dramatic shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to think clearly” (Par 4). Owen Gleiberman, a film critic, also recognizes Annie’s mood swings. Gleiberman says, “Her personality is like a small series of shocks: she can slip from politeness to rage in a millisecond, and when she does you realize that the two states are virtually identical” (Par. 2). In the film, Annie portrays this characteristic in the scene where she spills soup on Paul. In this scene, Annie is feeding soup while they discuss his new book. Their conversation starts off calm and casual, but it quickly takes a turn when Annie becomes enraged over the language used in the book. She begins to rant to Paul about why the language is unnecessary and then accidentally spills the soup all over him. She then blames Paul for all that just occurred. Her quick change in tone and her irrational behavior both represent an extreme mood change that a person with Bipolar Disorder may experience. Annie’s actions show that she is a prime example of Bipolar Disorder.

The film devices and techniques in the scene where Annie spills soup on Paul help to further emphasize the extreme mood changes. One film device used in this scene is a low angle camera shot. According to Gocsik et al, a low angle shot is “shot from below the viewer’s eye level upward” (196). This creates the effect as if the viewers themselves are the ones looking up. This angle of the shot shows that Annie has power and control over Paul even though she has no control over her own emotions. Her rage is almost amplified by the use of this shot because it makes her seem so much larger and scarier that she actually is. Another film device utilized in this scene is a close-up camera shot. According to Gocsik et al, a clos-up shot is a “zoomed in shot that focuses on one specific object” (203). In this scene that object is Annie Wilkes’s face. This shot is used so that the viewer can see all the details in Annie’s many facial expressions. The viewer can easily see the moment when Annie becomes agitated. Her eyes get wider, her voice becomes louder, and she remains this way until her episode of rage is resolved. Overall, all of these techniques help to portray Annie’s disorder.

Birth of Islam

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Birth of Islam

The birth of Muslim art can be attributed to the prophet Muhammad who God spoke within 610 according to Linda Komaroff in the birth of Islam. After hearing the voice of God through angel Gabriel, he began to recite just like the angel had told him, “Recite in the name of the lord…”. Muhammad lived between 570-632 A.D. His teachings and his first encounter with the angel were all codified as the present Quran Islam’s use (The Met, 2019). It explains how God Allah relates with his creation and how people will be judged at the end since Allah has given them free will. However, if Allah is not appropriately worshipped, Muhammad states there will be a judgement on the last day.

After the revelation, Mohamad continued with his journey to Mecca. Still, as a changed person and the people he came around with, he taught them about the encounter and through this, he founded the new religion, Islam. In Mecca, people did not accept him and his religion as it was a city and a shrine dedicated to pagan gods. Later, he convinced the people of the religion, and the Arabs there accepted it and began practicing the new faith. After he died in 632 A.D., four caliphs succeeded him, and through them, Islam continued to grow (The Met, 2019). From the Arabian Peninsula, Islam continued to grow. The first instance of art expression in the Islam world was through calligraphy as the Quran text was beautified and transformed to become an essential Islamic ornament. Muhammed’s house in medina because the prototype of a mosque can be attributed to the birth is Islamic architecture. The early style was called a hypostyle mosque, and it had a columned hall that faced Mecca and a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade. Call for prayer was done from the minaret, which was the rooftop at that time. The most important parts of the mosque were the pulpit and prayer niche (mihrab), which all faced Mecca.

References

The Met (2019). Metmuseum.org. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/isla/hd_isla.htm

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A Report on The Oslo Philharmonics Concert

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A Report on The Oslo Philharmonics Concert

On June 4th this year I attended the grand Oslo Philharmonics Concert which was held at the Chat Noir in Oslo, Norway. It was a five-hour-long event. Classical music artists as well as artists from other genres, from all around the world flocked the theatre in a bid to spectate one of the world’s most decorated Orchestras. it was such a privilege for me to be part and parcel of such a musically gifted audience. The concert was held in celebration of Norwegian Culture. In this essay, I have compiled a detailed report of the concert from the performances to the glamorous audience.

Pieces Performed During the Concert

During the concert artists from the Oslo, Philharmonics Orchestra did nine classic pieces from world-renowned composers. The Orchestra was led by professional conductors who are quite famous. The principal performers were; Klaus Makela, Oivin Fjeldstad, Vasily Petrenko and Christian Eggen. The list of how the Orchestra had lined up the performances is as follows; The Symphonia Domestica, Air, Ralph’s Symphony no.5, Trepak, Two-Froso Flowers, Elegiac Melody, Jean Sibelius’ Symphony no.1 and to bring the curtain down they performed Bolero by Maurice Ravel.

A detailed view of each piece performed

The Symphonia Domestica composed by Richard Strauss kick-started the show. It is a perfectly crafted three-movement symphony. The movements include; Scherzo, adagio, and finale. The next symphony was the “Air” symphony by Ludvig Irgens. It is done in D minor. Seems like the Norwegians have a bias to symphonies. The next was also a symphony. The Ode to Solitude. A symphony relating to the famous poem by Alexander Pope which goes by the same title. The Two-Froso Flowers performance followed. This piece in particular did not resonate with me. The Orchestra lost touch of their musical unity and were not in sync during that performance. The conductor seemed aloof and did not show enough emotion when guiding his orchestra. This whole performance lacked excitement and lowered the enthusiasm that was inside The Chat Noir. The Elegiac Melody composed by Odd Gunner and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony was not that bad but out of all of them, one stood out for me.

Trepak “The Russian Dance”

After a short recess, we were treated to Trepak “The Russian Dance”. It was now a change in cultures. The concert was that accommodating. The performance of the two-movement symphony in E minor gave me a new perspective on the view of music. That piece was both diverse and similar to the work of the Norwegian Composer. To think that Classical Music also differed by country and different cultures blew my mind. This can be related what the difference in the genres between Bach’s music and Mozart’s. I thought of how physical locations and different cultures could have brought about the existence of different genres of classical music.

Winding up of the Concert. The group then finished the show in style by playing Maurice Ravel’s Bolero.

Conclusion

The concert was a complete a splendid collection of performances that made it an event of art. The display of culture through classical music was truly exceptional from any other concert I have attended and that made this a new experience and experience where I got to learn new versions of classical music different from the ones taught in school. It was completely worth it to witness the technique of engaging the crowd through emotional performance and the power that came with it.

References

Oslo Philharmonics. (2021, June 24th ). Music Videos. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJJO7djXWX0BW_r-vA10dQ5yTGNIm_mXZ

A researcher administered to 20 college students a test of attention that is used to diagnose ADHD. The test has been administered to so many healthy people that we can comfortably say that the population mean score is known to be 100 and the population standard deviation is known to be 10. Use the data set assigned to you by your Lab Instructor to do as instructed below.

Paste your data set into the first column of an Excel Spreadsheet.

Show each distribution of scores listed below. On the x axis show the range 60 – 180 using bin widths of 10.

the frequency distribution. (5)

the probability distribution. (5)

Measures of central tendency.

Show the equation used to compute the mean (y). (5)

Define “median” and “mode” in words. (5)

Compute the sample mean, median, and mode by hand. (5)

Use Excel to compute the sample mean, median, and mode.

Use the Excel functions =average(DataRange), =median(DataRange), and =mode(DataRange). (5)

Why can’t Excel compute the mode? (5)

Measures of dispersion.

Define variance in words. (5)

Population variance and sample variance: (5)

Give the equations for each.

Which is computed exactly as described in the definition?

Compute sample variance by hand. Learn this method thoroughly—you will use it for most labs.

In the second column of your spreadsheet, to the right of the first data point, use the Excel function shown above to compute the mean of all scores.

Add “$” to the function (F4 key for Windows computers) so that you can copy and paste the function without changing the cells to which the function refers.

Copy the function and paste it below in the cells to the right of each data point.

In the third column compute the deviations from the mean y-y.

In the fourth column square the deviations from the mean using the Excel formula =cell^2.

Sum all of the squared values using the Excel function =sum(CellRange).

Give the name of the value you just computed and the name of its divisor.

Compute variance.

Compute the sample standard deviation of the scores. (10)

Show a snipped screen image of the variance computation in the Excel worksheet. (5)

Sampling error of means.

Define sampling distribution and sampling error. (5)

Use the sample variance computed above to estimate the population variance of the mean and the population standard error of the mean. (5)

Use the population variance of test scores to compute the actual population variance and population standard error of the mean. (5)

Construct the following confidence intervals twice—once using the σ shown above and again using the estimate s.

Construct a 95% confidence interval around each score in the data set using y±Zα/2σy and y±tdf,αsy. (7.5)

Construct 95% confidence intervals around the sample mean using y±Zα/2σy2N and y±tdf,αsy2N . (7.5)

Print your Excel spreadsheet showing values. (5)

Print your Excel spreadsheet showing formulae, adjusting your column widths so that your formulae can be seen by the grader. To do this, click the “Show Formulas” option in the “Formulas” menu. (5)

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Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a prominent condition which affects brains causing infrequent changes in the energy, activity levels and moods as well as the ability to carry out daily life activities. There are three major behavioral mood episodes namely main depressive, manic and hypomanic episodes. Bipolar I Disorder and Bipolar II Disorder the predominant types of disorders, even though there are other unspecified and specified related disorders. Bipolar I disorder is categorized by the happening of more than one manic episodes where the hypomanic, manic and major depressive episodes are prevalent or any two and the unique period of abnormality lasts for at least one week. With bipolar II disorder, the full-blown manic episode is not experienced, and minimum of one hypomanic as well as major depressive episode are experienced. With regards to the National Institute of Mental Health, both males and females are equally affected by the bipolar where men tend initially undergoing through the depressive episode while women will typically experience manic episode first (Merikangas, page 21). Depression Bipolar Support Alliance plays a significant role in helping people with affective bipolar and depression disorder by creating a network among the members to allow them to share information and provide support to other people with related conditions.

The bipolar disorder behavioral perspective focuses on the observable behaviors categorized by the different episodes including manic, major depressive, hypomanic and mixed episodes. The major depressive episode is portrayed by some symptoms which include depressed moods, significant loss of weight loss, changes in the sleeping patterns, fatigue, lack of concentration and diminished interest on the day-to-day life activities. One can also have recurrent thoughts of fear over traumatizing issues and have feelings of inappropriate or extreme guilt. In this episode, at least five of the mentioned symptoms are experienced where both diminished interest on the daily life activities and depressed mood in regular basis either observed by the individual or others are prevalent and occurs for more than two weeks. The manic episode persist for about one week where the person is abnormally ecstatic and experiences irritable mood. On top of the individual being irritable, he or she experiences at least four other symptoms which might include excessive and risky involvement an activity, reduced sleeping urge, inflated self-esteem, lack of concentration, participation in the high goal-directly activity and racing thoughts.

The hypomanic episode has similar characteristics to those of manic it is that it is experienced in less high frequency and it only lasts for about four days. It is observable by other people that the individual is somehow different from the normal non-depressed mood which significantly affects the normal functioning. With a mixed episode, the symptoms for both Manic and Major depressive episodes are incurred in almost on a daily basis, and they will only last for one week. In the management of bipolar disorder, the therapist uses some techniques. First, they will discuss these disorders and the effects they incur to human health (Schaffer, page 13). Second, they facilitate the improvement of communication with friends, teachers and family members as well as encouraging change on the victim’s behavior to improve the overall health. Behavioral therapy of the bipolar disorder involves the psychotherapy techniques where through the attendance of a therapy session the psychotherapist facilitates the monitors the person’s mood, a useful diagnosis, problem-solving frequency and stabilizing of the daily routine.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a useful technique of dealing with bipolar disorder through the improvement of the mania symptoms and psychosocial functioning and decrease of the lapse rate in patients. The method is based on the concept that person’s thoughts, physical sensation, ideas and are connected, and that negativity regarding feelings and thoughts will significantly affect the behavior and functionality of an individual. It is a non-pharmaceutical process of treating patients with anxiety and depression with an objective of helping them deal with the problems in a more positive way than ignoring and breaking them down into smaller parts. Changing the negative patterns in cognitive-behavioral therapy best works in taking the practical action to improve the feeling and state of mind on a daily basis. For instance, one can choose to be doing exercises during leisure time to refresh and prevent negative thoughts that run in mind during the idle time leading to depressed mood and related effects.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy works well in the treatment and prevention of the bipolar disorder. Through proper routine management and being actively involved in physical activities works well in fighting mania symptoms leading to significant healthy living standards.

Work cited

Merikangas, K., et al. “Bipolar and other mental disorders as predictors of transitions to alcohol use disorders: implications for prevention.” BIPOLAR DISORDERS. Vol. 20. 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA: WILEY, 2018.

Schaffer, Ayal, et al. “International Society for Bipolar Disorders Task Force on Suicide: meta‐analyses and meta‐regression of correlates of suicide attempts and suicide deaths in bipolar disorder.” Bipolar Disorders 17.1 (2015): 1-16.